Do you want business, or not?

[Atticus]

There's no way in hades I'll buy another game from you guys. The game goes by in a whisper, and then the patch and new module is released as "COMING THIS WEEK!" Blah, blah, blah.

I've been patient with this game, but thirty bucks is way too frickin' much for a game that can't get it right. If anyone's out there, don't buy the game. If you want it, obtain it, but don't pay for it. I did, and it's the worst value I've ever made - and my game collection is 200 plus. You guys are off of my list, period.

[DarkStar]

The new patch is out, it came out the middle of this week. Did you try it? I had a list of pet peeves about the games, and found a bunch of bugs. I would say that half my list has been changed and fixed. The new module is pretty fun.
I do agree that the price is a little high for the game I got, but I really like the new changes. I also know this company and they will keep releasing patches and fixes for awhile to come. The support I have gotten for SE4, RS2 has been great. I'm sure this will continue.

Try the new patch (if you didn't already) I think you will like the new changes. I was hoping the community would be bigger but I think things are moving in the right direction, it's just going to take some time.

Even if I think the price was too high for the game I got (which I do - considering Angband and the other Rogue-Likes are more fun, have more options and gameplay depth), in the end I think it will end up being worth it...

EDIT:

(Stands On SoapBox)

You might be mad about the price and the fact you got ripped off (In a way I do too) but it's not cool to basically tell people the steal the game.

There are not that many Indie game companies out there, the developer's needs people the buy the games and can't afford for people to steal them. I fear the day Indie game companies are gone. No major publisher would touch the types of games that Shrapnel does. I have bought 4 games in the Last year or so, in general I have been happy. I'm hoping Shrapnel is around for many years to come.

The Indie scene is the Last hope for games that don't just follow the 'Cookie Cutter' model that the big companies use.

Just something to think about....

(Steps Down)

[ November 17, 2002, 06:28: Message edited by: DarkStar ]

[David E. Gervais]

Just a little question for you Atticus..

Did you try the demo before you decided to buy the game?

If the answer is yes, did you purchase the game because you expected the 'final' Version to turn into Diablo2 or some other high-end commercial game? IMHO and as far as I know Malfador and Shrapnel go out of their way to give we the 'end-Users' all the info (including demos) of their products. We are then 'Free' to make our decision based on the info... And After-sales support from Malfador and Shrapnel is second to none.

If you want to talk about loosing money on crappy games,.. I too have a large collection of games. (Close to 100) and there are some titles that I feel totally ripped me off. We're talking in the $69-$89 dollar range (Plus tax!) Lords of magic, Outpost, Rage of Mages, Betrayal at Antara, Emperor of the Fading Suns (which stopped working after DirectX 6.0 came out. and no patch is available!) How about spending $59+tax for D2:LoD and getting just one extra chapter. (I spent $79+tax for the original D2 and it came with 4 chapters.) When I do the math the expansion should have sold for $19.95.

Anyway, I'm sorry you feel like you got ripped off. All I can say is that I for one am still creating new graphics for Dungeon Odyssey and I will 'Always' release them to the public for 'Free'.

One more thing,.. If Arron and I had more info as to what 'exactly' pissed you off about this game (regarding the gameplay or bugs you found) There would be a better chance that they could be fixed and or included in an upcomming patch.

Have a Great Day. Cheers!

P.S. If it's any consolation, I think that 'ALL' game players out there (myself included) have at one time or another felt exactly the same way.

Nuf Said!

[Mysterial]

No game can be worse than Lords of Magic

And if this game is a ripoff, at least it isn't as bad a ripoff as other games (David just mentioned most of them )

[Geoman]

Some food for thought:

I bought Dungeon Odyssey and a week later i bought Chessmaster 9000 (which in reality is exactly the same game as Chessmaster 8000 with some new 3D Boards).

Dungeon Odyssey didn't run at all and Chessmaster 9000 crashed when i used the new 3D Boards.

I contacted both Ubisoft and Malfador about these problems.

Malfador offered quick and GREAT technical support - Aaron informed me that they found out what the problem was - and it was finally solved with the patch release.

On the other hand i exhanged more than 6 e-mails with Ubisoft only to be informed in the end that i had to contact their International support service. I am still waiting for an answer from them and i guess i'll never get one... I managed to make Chessmaster 9000 revert to playable 2D Boards - after spending many hours - although Ubisoft FAQ said that it was not possible!

Just imagine what will happen if only companies like EA and Ubisoft exist in a few years. You will end up playing the same games again and again (ex. FIFA 2001,2002,...2123) and no one will care if they work on your PC or not!

[disabled]

I bought Myst 3 from Ubisoft after being reasured it could run on my windows 98 box. It didn't run so I upgraded my computer. It still didn't run. I'm now running a top of the line machine and it still doesn't run. ubisoft informed me they were not going to make a patch to allow Myst 3 to run on Windows XP.

Meanwhile, with DO, during the beta, some of us couldn't get the thing to run. You know what Aaron did for us? He wrote a custom exe to let us get the game running.

He didn't have to do that right away, he could have waited for the next beta patch to do it, but instead he did it.

You should give these people some credit at shrapnel. They give great games and great customer service.

[ November 18, 2002, 01:11: Message edited by: Hadrian Tyrael S. Aventine ]

[Akachaki]

the main reason why i bought this game it's for the modding. it this game would'nt be moddable , i would'nt pay more than 10$ for it , and even ... modding had so much lenght to the game. so you should'nt have bought this game if you would'nt want to mod it a bit

[ November 22, 2002, 18:31: Message edited by: Akachaki ]

[DerekD]

Quote: The Indie scene is the Last hope for games that don't just follow the 'Cookie Cutter' model that the big companies use.

Very true, Darkstar...Shrapnel gives many developers and games chances that wouldn't see the light of day at the "big" publishers, and give them first class support, and we as gamers should be thankful for that. I bought DO and have been enjoying it very much. Brings back memories of all those RPG's I played as a kid.

Derek

[Rogue]

Just wanted to throw in my 2 coppers on the subject at hand. I think the indies deserve a TON of credit and I always try to support them. What has been said of originality and nostalgia are completely true. I may not be fully utilizing my GeForce4 Ti4600 with games like DO, SEIVG, Remote Assault, etc--but dang it…they’re just plain fun! I don’t feel as if I’m playing a game that forces me to run down a restrictive “hallway” with limited things open to me as many of the big name products do. Granted these “hallways” are often very pretty to look at—but they don’t usually have the substance that I crave in a game.

I not only purchase, and encourage others to purchase, Shrapnel products but also other indies (that I feel deserve the business as well). I get so tired of some of the new stuff out there that exists on hype alone. Oh I’m sure people like them (that’s why they have more than one manufacturer of car), but a lot of them seem half done to me—taking the multimedia aspect more seriously than the content.

I’m not even going to comment on support, either official or non-official, as you can just peruse the forums and see just how awesome the people are at the various arms of Shrapnel. I can’t even count how many times I’ve been frustrated by the big companies that obviously release product too soon and then drag their feet on a patch and/or information on what’s going on with their stuff.

I’m not bashing anyone by this post, and yes I have an extensive collection of big name games as well. Even though I’ve not be completely satisfied by the newer mainstream stuff that’s out there, I still buy enough of them that I could probably open a used game store at the local mall. However, despite shelling out literally hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year on PC and console games, I still find myself coming back to the stuff from Shrapnel, Battlefront, Spidersoft, and other games of a (imo) higher caliber of product.

Again, this is just my humble opinion. Kudos to everyone at Malfador and Shrapnel—please keep up the awesome work and stick around for many more years to come. Okay…I’ll just go step off my soap-box now—I need to go fill out some paper work to refinance my house anyways.